breaking

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. The change of a simple vowel to a diphthong, especially in various Germanic languages, often caused by the influence of neighboring consonants.

n. A form of urban dance involving styles such as rocking, popping, and b-boying, usually performed to funk. Also called break dancing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

v. Present participle of break.

n. A change of a vowel to a diphthong

n. A form of ornamentation in which groups of short notes are used instead of long ones

n. break dancing

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

adj. p. pr. & vb. n. of break, v. i.

adj. Still happening or becoming known at the present time; -- used of news reports.

n. The act of breaking something.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. In worsted-manuf., the process of uniting the short slivers, as received from the comber, into one continuous rope or sliver, by doubling and running through drawing-webs.

n. [Imitation of German brechung.] In philology, the change of one vowel to two before certain consonants, as, in Anglo-Saxon (where the phenomenon abounds), earm for *arm, arm, eorthe for *erthe, earth, etc.

Etymologies

Translation of German Brechung.

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

He shows how frequently this principle is misunderstood by the inexperienced, who seem to think that rubato means breaking the time; whereas true rubato is the _bending_ of the time, but not _breaking_ it.